What determines a trait of an organism?
a. the number of copies of the gene
b. the combination of it's alleles
c. it's phenotypes
d. the number of dominant alleles
b. the combination of it's alleles
Well, well, well, looks like we've got a case of trait-determining on our hands! Now, let me put on my detective hat and solve this mystery for you. Ahem, I mean answer your question.
The culprit behind determining a trait of an organism is a sneaky suspect called "the combination of its alleles." Yep, you heard it right. These alleles team up, work their genetic magic, and decide what traits an organism gets. It's like a covert operation in the world of genetics!
So, even if you have a single copy of a gene, it's the combination of alleles that holds the key to determine an organism's traits. It's kind of like a recipe, you know? You need the right mix of ingredients to make a scrumptious trait! So, option "b" is the answer you're looking for, my friend. Case closed!
By the way, do you have any other curious cases that need my clown-ish detective skills?
b. the combination of its alleles
The correct answer is b. the combination of its alleles.
To understand why, let's start with the basics. Traits are characteristics or features of an organism, such as eye color, height, or hair texture. These traits are determined by genes, which are segments of DNA that code for specific proteins.
Genes come in different forms called alleles. For each gene, an organism inherits two alleles - one from each parent. These alleles can be either the same (homozygous) or different (heterozygous).
When it comes to determining the trait, it's the combination of alleles that matters. Each allele can have a dominant or recessive effect. A dominant allele masks the presence of a recessive allele when both are present in a heterozygous state.
To illustrate this, let's consider an example of eye color. Suppose there's a gene for eye color with two possible alleles: allele A for brown eyes (dominant) and allele a for blue eyes (recessive). An individual with the genotype AA or Aa will have brown eyes because the dominant allele A masks the presence of the recessive allele a.
On the other hand, an individual with the genotype aa (two copies of the recessive allele a) will have blue eyes because there are no dominant alleles to mask the recessive trait.
To summarize, the combination of an organism's alleles determines its traits. The number of copies of the gene (option a) doesn't directly determine a trait but rather influences the probability of expressing a particular trait. Phenotypes (option c) are the observable traits, and the number of dominant alleles (option d) alone doesn't determine a trait but interacts with recessive alleles to produce observable characteristics.